


burning up the sky

by FireflysLove



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Twinfants, and also he has a butt for a forehead, padme's big knife, someone's getting what's coming to him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 07:06:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11938890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireflysLove/pseuds/FireflysLove
Summary: In which Anakin never becomes Vader, Padme has a Big Knife, and Obi-wan really would rather not kill Anakin.Based on ROTS original ending, but with a fix-it twist.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen just enough TCW to be like "I know what I'm doing" but not enough to actually know what I'm doing. Therefore, handwavery.
> 
> Also, I'm 60/40 on whether this is headed in an ObiAniDala direction. I'm inclined to the ship, but whether it manifests itself in this fic is yet to be seen.

Anakin has spent the better part of his life surrounded by abilities that some consider to be unnatural, some consider to be magic, but that are just an average part of a Jedi’s life. Seeing the Chancellor of the Galactic Senate shoot lightning out of his fingertips is a new one, though.

Even knowing Palpatine is a Sith Lord doesn’t make the experience any less strange. He watches the man’s face… melt… into something more alien than any species Anakin has ever met. His eyes take on an amber cast and his entire form goes prone as he begs Anakin to stop Master Windu from bearing down on him with his lightsaber. Anakin knows he should do _something_ , to help either of them, but he’s frozen, rooted to the spot.

“This is the treachery of the Jedi!” Palpatine shouts. Clearly, he is not dying of whatever is happening, but he’s not winning either.

Anakin ignites his lightsaber, not even sure of which direction he’s going to move when the lightning overwhelms Mace’s ’saber’s kyber crystal and the entire thing just _shatters._ Anakin’s hand, his flesh one, reaches out to help him when the lightning hits Mace’s body. Anakin cries out, and reaches out, but he’s too late. He misses the Jedi’s robes by inches as he falls, face still shocked with pain, into the Coruscanti night.

“Well done, Anakin,” Palpatine says, hauling himself up. His voice is different, like the grating of two ships together, assured mutual destruction.

“Excuse me?” Anakin says. He’s sure he’s next.

“It was, of course, you who overwhelmed the crystal in his lightsaber, yes?” Palpatine says.

Anakin faces another moment of indecision. The wrong answer here will get him, and the Jedi, and more importantly, Padme, killed. He knows the Jedi are flawed, deeply so, but for the ten thousand of them in the galaxy, fighting a losing war, it’s not their fault. Flaws can be fixed, purged. This… desecration that he feels in the fabric of the Force, cannot. He hardens himself, focuses his anger as Palpatine had so helpfully suggested only a few hours previously.

“What have I done?” he says, dropping his saber to the ground and nearly falling into a seat.

“Gooooooood,” Palpatine says, drawing out the syllable. “You’re fulfilling your destiny, Anakin.”

Anakin looks up at him, trying not to flinch at the otherworldly gaze.

“Become my apprentice, learn to use the Dark Side of the Force,” Palpatine says, and Anakin looks at the floor.

“I will do whatever you ask,” he says, voice wavering. He hopes Palpatine will attribute this to nerves and adrenaline.

“Goooooood,” Palpatine repeats, and again, the sound grates on Anakin’s skin.

“Just help me save Padme’s life, I can’t live without her,” he must look back down again, his face will give too much away.

Palpatine says something about discovering secrets, and Anakin lowers himself to the floor.

“I pledge myself to your teachings,” he says, bowing his head.

“Gooood, good,” a growled breath, “the Force is strong with you. A powerful Sith you will become.”

A pocket of rage forms in Anakin’s stomach, and he forces himself to look up, into the Sith Lord’s face.

“Hence forth you shall be known as Darth…. Vader,” Palpatine decrees.

Now, Anakin is no stranger to drama, he’s created it himself a time or two, but the delivery of that line is completely over the top, and it’s all Anakin can do not to make a face at it.

“Thank you,” Anakin says. And as an afterthought, “My master.”

“Rise,” Palpatine says. He wanders over to the window, pulling his hood up over his head. Anakin stops thinking of him as Palpatine in that moment. He sees now, this is a Sith Lord of the darkest order, Darth Sidious.

“Because the Council did not trust you, my young apprentice, I believe you are the only Jedi with no knowledge of this plot. When the Jedi learn what has transpired here, they will kill us, along with all the Senators,” Sidious says.

“I agree. The Jedi's next move will be against the Senate,” Anakin says. His delivery is off, but he’s never claimed to be a good actor, and Sidious doesn’t seem to notice.

“Every single Jedi, including your friend Obi-Wan Kenobi, is now an enemy of the Republic. You understand that, don't you?” Sidious says.

“I understand, Master,” Anakin says, quietly fantasizing about the ways in which he could kill the man.

“We must move quickly. The Jedi are relentless; if they are not all destroyed, it will be civil war without end. First, I want you to go to the Jedi Temple. We will catch them off balance. Do what must be done, Lord Vader,” Sidious says. “Do not hesitate. Show no mercy. Only then will you be strong enough with the dark side to save Padme.” And there it is, Sidious’ bargaining chip. Anakin’s tempted still, even with all that has transpired in this room.

“What about the other Jedi spread across the galaxy?” he asks, hoping for an answer that doesn’t involve him, he’s about to have more than he can handle on his plate.

Sidious sighs, “Their betrayal will be dealt with. After you have killed all the Jedi in the Temple, go to the Mustafar system. Wipe out Viceroy Gunray and the other Separatist leaders. Once more, the Sith will rule the galaxy, and we shall have peace.”

Anakin turns and strides out the door. He stops on the other side just as they close behind him, and listens. Sidious is making some kind of transmission, but he can’t quite make out what it is. The only thing he does get is Commander Cody’s name.

Cody is on Utapau.

Obi-Wan is on Utapau.

Anakin steels himself. For what he’s about to do, he’s going to need it.

He goes to the Temple then, followed by the 501st.

He turns to them. “Whatever Palpatine told you to do, don’t,” he says. “I will kill you on the spot without hesitation. I can and _will_ do so. Do you understand?”

The rows of helmeted heads nod.

“Good,” Anakin says. He knows these clones were trained for unconditional loyalty to the Galactic Senate, but given that the Chancellor is a Sith Lord, Anakin hopes he can rely on their loyalty to the Jedi Generals they’ve trusted over the last three years. “Now here is what I want you to do…”

 

* * *

 

On Utapau, Obi-Wan finds himself suddenly in possession of his lightsaber again.

He thanks Cody, mounts the lizard and takes off at a run.

It’s only seconds later that he hears the first blast. He turns back, and sees clone troopers lying on the ground, fresh blast marks in their armor. A blast ricochets off the rock above him, and he’s plunged into the cold, murky depths below.

 

He’s collected, sopping wet, sometime later by a distraught Bail Organa and Yoda.

“What has happened?” he asks, fearing the worst.

“It’s the Temple,” Bail says. “It’s burning. The walls are covered in blast marks, and there are smears of blood on the floors. Everyone in there is just…. Gone.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for non-graphic descriptions of childbirth

To see the Temple like this is… beyond disturbing.

On the way to Coruscant, Bail had filled the two Jedi in on the situation as he knew it. Someone had led hundreds or thousands of clone troops into the heart of the Jedi Temple and laid ruin to the place. At the same time, across the galaxy, a full fifth of the clones had suddenly turned on their Jedi. Most of them had been gunned down by their fellow troopers, but a few Jedi had been killed in the process. A beacon from the Temple was broadcasting a message to all Jedi to come back, that the war was over. As far as Bail could tell, this had been summarily ignored by all the Jedi he was in contact with.

“How has this happened?” Obi-wan asks, mostly to himself.

“The Sith,” Yoda says. “Destroyed they must be.”

“Of course,” Obi-wan agrees. “But there are always two Sith. With Dooku dead, who is the apprentice?”

“The answer to your question, find it in the Temple, we will,” Yoda says.

So, they had come to the Temple and found it in ruins. Bail Organa had been summoned to an emergency session of the Senate. There were indeed blast marks and blood on the floor and walls. Obi-wan could see the outlines of where bodies had been slain, some of them disturbingly small.

“These marks,” Yoda says. “Made by lightsabers, they were.”

Obi-wan examines the marks on the wall that Yoda has pointed out, and he can see it in his mind, the way these were made, the person whose blood lies scattered across the floor backed against the wall, trying to defend themselves with a saber, the very weapon sundered not three feet away. Whoever had done this had been not only armed with a saber, but also skilled with it.

“Who? Who could have done this?” Obi-wan cries.

They ventured to the central computer core, where he changed the message, warning anyone who got it to stay far, far away.

“Go, we must, before discovered, we are,” Yoda says.

“Wait, Master,” Obi-wan says. “There is something I must know.”

“If it is into the recordings you go, only pain will you find,” Yoda says.

“I must know the truth, Master,” Obi-wan says.

He spools up the security recordings, rewinding it through their entrance, the movement of troopers through the halls of the temple, removing the bodies to… somewhere, until he found it. A sickeningly familiar figure cutting down Jedi; Masters, Padawans, and Younglings alike.

Then…

The Sith appears.

“The traitors have been taken care of, Lord Sidious,” Anakin says.

“Good… good… You have done well, my new apprentice. Do you feel your power growing?” the Dark Lord asks. “

Yes, my Master,” Anakin says. It sickens Obi-wan to hear Anakin call that… thing his Master.

“Now, Lord Vader, now go and bring peace to the Empire,” Sidious says.

He slams the button and backs away.

“I can’t watch anymore,” he says.

“Destroy the Sith, we must,” Yoda says.

“I can’t,” Obi-wan says. “Send me to kill the Chancellor—Emperor—Sith, whatever he is. I will not kill Anakin.”

“To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough, you are not,” Yoda says.

“He is like my brother ... I cannot do it,” his voice cracks in anguish.

“Twisted by the dark side, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is… Consumed by Darth Vader,” Yoda says.

“I cannot,” Obi-wan mutters to himself.

“You must,” Yoda says. “For the sake of the galaxy. Now go, Master Kenobi.”

“Where would I even begin to look?”

“Your feelings, Obi-wan, look to them and find him, you will,” Yoda says. And with that, he gathers his cloak about himself and strides away.

 

Yoda’s advice, most of the time, is fraught with self-interest, but this time, Obi-wan thinks he can trust it. His feelings lead him to the apartment of Senator Amidala. He’s had the suspicion for a few years that there was something going on between his former Padawan and the senator, but there was never any concrete proof. Anakin is not subtle about most things, but in this, he has been. Obi-wan docks his ship, and expects 3PO to greet him, but the protocol droid is nowhere to be found.

A shout comes from the inner apartment, and Obi-wan runs in, his saber out and ready for … something. He doesn’t find what he had feared he would, Anakin standing over Padme ready to slay her, instead, he finds her on the floor in a puddle of blood.

“Senator!” he says, rushing in.

“Master Kenobi,” C-3PO says, coming between them, “you must help.”

“I’m trying to, now get out of my way,” Obi-wan says.

“What happened?” he says, kneeling next to her and taking her hand. He doesn’t think Anakin would have hurt her, but… now, there’s no telling.

“It’s the baby,” Padme says. “He’s coming now.”

Obi-wan swears, it’s low and not in a language most people know, but it’s also anatomically impossible.

“We need to get you to the med-droids,” he says.

“There’s no time,” Padme says, and the hand she’s holding is suddenly crushed under an impressive pressure. “He’s coming _now_.”

“Uh,” Obi-wan says. Jedi training technically _does_ cover childbirth, but only in the most basic sense of the thing, given the multitude of different species.

“You’re going to have to help, there’s nothing to be done for it,” Padme says.

“But I have to…” Obi-wan starts.

Padme’s next words are bitten off between grunts of pain. She seizes Obi-wan by the robes. “You will deliver this baby if it’s the last thing you do. Anakin ran off to Mustafar, he said something about a rebellion, the Jedi, and overthrowing the Republic, and Force damn him, the stress set _this_ off.”

It’s a lot to take in in a few seconds, but Obi-wan has no choice. He can’t leave her in the care of only an anxiety ridden droid, and med-droids would take too long to get here.

“All right,” Obi-wan says. “What do you need me to do?”

Half an hour later, Obi-wan finds himself holding a baby against his now blood-soaked robes, with the other clutched to her mother’s chest.

“You had somewhere to be, didn’t you?” Padme asks him.

Obi-wan’s stomach drops. Here he is, holding Anakin’s son. And now he has to go… find him… and kill him.

“What’s happening?” Padme asks. “The Jedi Temple was attacked, and Anakin was behaving so strangely.”

Obi-wan closes his eyes and steels himself. “Anakin has turned to the Dark Side of the Force,” he says.

Padme gasps and pulls her daughter closer to her. “No, it’s not possible.”

“He led the attack on the Temple,” Obi-wan says. “I saw a recording of him killing them… even the younglings.”

“No…” Padme says.

“So you see why I have to go,” Obi-wan says. He’s half hoping Padme will be able to talk him out of it.

“You can’t kill him,” Padme says. “I won’t let you.”

“How are you going to stop me?” Obi-wan asks, almost sadly.

“I’m not. I’m going to get there first, and do it myself,” Padme says.

Obi-wan looks up from the baby in his arms in surprise. Padme is hauling herself to her feet, a determined look on her face. “3PO,” she says. “Get me the red dress.” She looks over at Obi-wan. “You can come with me if you want to, but by all the Force considers holy, I _will not_ let him do this. I know why he is doing this, but I will _not_ let him.”

“Why is he doing this?” Obi-wan asks. It’s the question that’s been foremost in his mind.

“He had a vision of me dying in childbirth,” Padme says, as 3PO returns with the dress. “Here, help me. Swaddle the babies.”

Obi-wan has spent some time in the creche, and he’s a fair hand at swaddling an infant. By the time Padme is dressed, so are the babies.

“Help me strap them to my back,” Padme says. “He thought he could use the Force to stop me from dying. I tried to tell him no, but he was…”

“Determined?” Obi-wan suggests.

“Determined,” Padme confirms. “He thought the Chancellor… the Emperor, now, I guess, knew what those secrets of the Force were.”

“Force damn that thing,” Obi-wan says. “The Sith must be destroyed.”

“I know,” Padme says. “Anakin would never do this, so something must have destroyed all the good left in him and taken over his body.”

“It’s called Darth Vader,” Obi-wan says.

“Then we must stop it,” Padme says. “And if that means killing him… It’s something I need to do myself.”

 

The flight to Mustafar is interminable. Time has no meaning in hyperspace anyway, but it seems like nothing is happening. The babies are surprisingly quiet for fresh infants, and Obi-wan would worry… if he knew more about fresh infants.

Then, suddenly, there it is, like a baleful eye hanging in the black of space. They land on a platform near Anakin’s starfighter. The ramp lowers, and as he’s building his own resolve, he can see Padme doing the same.

“I should go first,” Padme says. “I… I must still hold out hope.”

“As you wish,” Obi-wan says. “But remember what he has done.”

Padme nods, then steps onto the ramp. Anakin is waiting at the bottom, not unsurprisingly.

“Padme!” he says. “What are you doing here?” He tries to pull her forward into a hug, but she resists.

“Obi-wan has told me terrible things,” Padme says. “That you destroyed the Temple, that you _killed younglings_.”

Anakin freezes. “He did what?”

“He says he saw a recording,” Padme says.

“Listen to me, Padme,” Anakin says. “I didn’t do any of those things. It’s all a lie. All of it.”

“I can’t believe you,” she says. As she reaches up to wipe a tear away, a knife falls out of her sleeve and into her hand.

It’s a scant finger width from his chest when Anakin catches her wrist in a Force-hold.

Obi-wan takes this as his signal to come down the ramp.

“Obi-wan!” Anakin says. His hood falls back as he steps back from Padme. His distraction hasn’t stopped his hold on her wrist.

“Anakin… Vader..., whatever you are called, let her go,” Obi-wan says.

Anakin looks up at him, eyes wild.

It’s Anakin’s eyes that make Obi-wan freeze where he is.

**Author's Note:**

> @anakinslefthand on Tumblr


End file.
